The Court Challenges Program was created to fund court cases that can promote the equality rights and language rights guaranteed by the Canadian Constitution and Charter.
A case becomes a test case if it has to do with an issue that has not been taken to court. Such cases must help minority official language communities in Canada to protect their language rights.
According to the agreement with Heritage Canada, the Court Challenges Program cannot be used to fund challenges of the laws, policies or practices of the provinces or territories, cases that raise issues that have already been funded by the Court Challenges Program or that are before the courts or complaints regarding the Official Languages Act.
Ms. Foulem, there are three other ways to fund lawsuits in order to protect one's rights, namely provincial or territorial legal aid, the Canadian Human Rights Commission and the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages. Apart from the Court Challenges Program, have you used any of those programs or do you know whether they have been used for covering legal costs?